Changing course
by si-star-x
Summary: Draco choses to interact with Harry Potter.
1. The beginning

**A/N - I don't think they have Laptops in Hogwarts but I'm just pretending that they do.**

---

'Open Diary' - the newest craze on the Magicnet. You pay two galleons to open an account, to which you can then make journal-like blog entries which can be seen by all other members (unless of course you decide to block certain ones out.)

Unsuprisingly, Draco Malfoy had been one of the first people to create an account. He didn't so much plan to write entries, only to read other's. Yesterday he had stumbled across Harry Potter's account, every entry was read to every last word. Something which came as a shock was how much _his _name came up in it. Some of the most recently written sentences caught his attention the most.

_"I just don't get that boy. There's something about him which just doesn't match up to current personality - at least the one he uses as a front. I bet he thinks nobody can tell but it's so blatently obvious. Sometimes when I look at him (which I try not to make a habit of,) he looks as though he's about to burst into tears. Yesterday I caught sight of his back. I've never seen such horrific scars. Except... they weren't scars. They were pretty fresh."_

Harry had seen his back? That wasn't good. Now Draco would need to talk to him.

---

"You're not writing on that thing again, are you?" Hermione asked whilst shaking her head in disbelief. When Harry didn't answer, she peered over his shoulder. "Oh, you _are_. It's incredibly pathetic if you ask me, why pay for that when you have perfectly good parchment right here?" She was pretty much talking to herself now. "You could at least answer me, Harry. We've got to get going. Potions starts in ten minutes!"

"I'm not writing on it." Was his simple reply, it wasn't even a lie. He wasn't writing another entry, he was just reading who had been visiting his account. 'Malfoy' was one name that stood out, though it didn't cause much bother. If Draco wanted to waste his time reading Harry's ramblings then so be it.

"Come on, Harry." Hermionie urged, smiling in satisfaction as she heard the laptop click shut.

---

After Snape had explained their expected potion, Harry recieved a note. He opened it up and was suprised at the sender.

_I need to talk to you, meet me after class. - Malfoy_

He was also suprised at how neat the other boy's handwriting was, but quickly pushed the thoughts out of his head. He didn't send a note back, but looked over to Draco and nodded, confirming their 'meeting'.

The lesson passed by quickly, Harry seemed pretty 'out of it' as he was continuously thinking about why in the world Malfoy would want to talk to _him_,

Expectedly, he and Ron had messed up their potion but much to their relief, so had most of the other students.

"You two carry on," He said with a nod towards Hermione and Ron, "I have some business to attend to - I'll just be a few minutes."

---

"Potter," Malfoy said as Harry approached. "I... you saw my back?"

_Oh, so THAT'S why he wanted to talk to me. _Harry thought before nodding. "You read my Open Diary?"

Malfoy nodded back, a grim smile on his face. "Yes, I did. I just wanted to ask you not to tell anybody about it,"

"I wasn't planning on it," Harry replied with a happier smile. "Do you fancy telling me how it happened?"

"I guess so, but not now." The other boy said quietly, "I'll send you an OD message later."


	2. Switching path

As soon as Draco returned to his dormitory, he sent Harry that message. There wasn't much point, as he wasn't going to be giving much information away, but he had already agreed to it.

_It was Snape. _he typed, pausing whilst thinking of how he could word it. _Not long ago, a few weeks at the most. He used the Sectumsempra spell on me. I could tell you why but there wouldn't be much point so I won't. Let's just say that I did something wrong - something punishable. Most would say I got off lightly. Anyway, I deserved it. I wasn't allowed to visit the hospital wing - it hurts all of the time, I suppose the desired effect. This is probably why I looked like I was about to cry - having your flesh ripped open does hurt something terrible. Having to function without having wounds treated hurts even more. Harry, I think I want to talk to you more often, would that be OK by you? You seem like a worthwhile change from my own house and I'd appreciate it greatly. - Draco"_

He typed in Harry's username before sending it off. It was all quite strange really - sending an owl would probably have done the job just as well. At least this way there's no chance at all of interception from anybody.

After the "message sent" sign popped up, Draco leant back gingerly against the wall. He hissed as the slashes made themselves known.

---

It all clicked into place and made perfect sense. "I see..." Harry mumbled. He wondered if the wounds had been cleaned or even crudely bandaged - infection could easily set in and cause even more problems. It was nearly time for the evening meal, he made a mental note to speak to Malfoy again afterwards.

As he read over the message again, he took in the fact that Malfoy actually wanted to talk to him. In the beginning, he seemed like nothing more than trouble, but today something seemed different.

---

"What business did you have?" Hermione questioned as they sat down in the Great Hall. Harry shrugged in response, hoping she wouldn't question further. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that she wouldn't be impressed by his new friendship.

"Nothing very important, it's all sorted out now." Truth be told, nothing was sorted out. Harry still had a hundred more questions he wanted answering by Malfoy.

Thankfully, she left it at that.

He looked over at the Slytherin table; Draco was sitting with his back towards them, the wounds conviniently concealed beneath his robes. Nobody would be able to tell that there was anything wrong, but as Harry was looking for traces of pain, the fact that Malfoy was slightly hunched over jumped out at him. 

---

After they had eaten, Harry rushed to catch up with Slytherin, though not quite sure of his reasons. "Malfoy!" he shouted, biting his lip as he realised people had actually turned to look at him.

Draco kind of laughed nervously before grinding to a halt. "Harry, Hey." he with a tight smile.

"Uh..." Harry began, winging his words. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"A walk? You asking me out on a date, Potter?"

"No!" he exclaimed, putting his hands up in defense. "No, I wasn't. I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about anything. Y'know... get to know each other a bit."

Draco shrugged, "Not tonight. I'm tired and my back hurts," he said the last part quietly. "I'll be happy to join you tomorrow though?"

"I was also wondering if you'd cleaned and bandaged your back," Harry added. "I know the wounds looked pretty deep and to get them dirty would be terrible,"

"Well, I can hardly reach." He muttered, confirming Harry's suspicions that the wounds had been left totally untreated. "Give me a hand if you will."


	3. Steam

They had arranged to meet in the prefect bathroom at around nine o'clock that night. It was late, but not so late as to get in trouble if caught out of bed. Luckily Hermione and Ron bought into his lies once again and didn't press the matter of where he was heading off to. He didn't feel embarrassed, per se, to be with the blonde-haired Slytherin, he just knew they wouldn't exactly be very supportive. A serious of situations had been formed in Harry's mind about what Draco could have done to receive such punishment, but the majority all lead to the same conclusion: the dark arts. The only thing that made Harry suspicious was the fact that every one of the situations he imagined could actually be true. Hermione and Ron would be in total disbelief over his reasons of helping, so it was best all round for them not to know.

"Malfoy?" Harry called tentatively into the steam-filled bathroom, pushing it open after having been left slightly ajar.

"Potter." A voice replied from behind the steam, stepping forward after a few seconds. The prefect had nothing on but a towel, and Harry couldn't help but let out a small snort of disgust.

"Why are you half-naked?" He questioned, eyebrows raising. "You're not trying to seduce me, are you?"

Draco snorted in much the same way and folded his arms. "It wasn't my intention, Potter, but if you are asking, I'm sure I could -"

Before he could get any further, Harry cut him off. "No, Malfoy. Just... no." He raised his arms in surrender and took a few steps to the side so he could sit down on one of the benches. "How is your back?" He asked, attempting to move onto a neutral subject.

No verbal response was given straight away, but instead, the towel-clad guy turned around. There were several deep slashes across the pale skin, none of which appeared to show any signs of healing over at all.

"Ouch," Harry winced.

"Yeah." Draco replied with a sigh, turning back around and suddenly feeling rather exposed. "Want to get started? I have to get back to do some work."

There was always the option of using _accio_ to retrieve the items needed, but Harry had decided to just bring the required bandages and ointments in a bag, just incase somebody noticed them disappear - but, then again, he _had_ taken them from the medical wing anyway.

"Do you want to, uh, sit down?" Harry asked, trying to think of the best way to get access to the guy's wounded back. "Unless you think there's a better way to do this."

Draco sauntered over casually and sat down infront of the dark-haired guy. "Sitting down's good."

He was trying not to put up much of a front, but certain mannerisms such as the way he stretches his legs out when he sits and the way he sways when he walks just couldn't go to waste. There's no crime in looking good anyway, right?

"This looks really painful," Harry said quietly as he set about arranging the medical equipment. He had considered bringing something to attempt to stitch up the gaping wounds, but didn't really want to hurt Draco so decided against it. That and he had no real first-hand medical experience.

"It's not too bad." Draco lied, thankful that Harry could not see his face when his hand pressed a gauze pad against the first slash. "Just try and be careful." He added, barely being able to suppress the audible grimace of pain. After a moment, the sting intensified as whatever Harry had applied to the pad began to seep into the wound. "Potter!" He exclaimed loudly, practically jumping off the bench, "What did you put on that?!"

Harry picked up the bottle and swirled it around a little, still amazed at the purple liquid contained within. "I'm not exactly sure."

"Please tell me you're not serious, Potter?" Draco hissed, twisting around to face the other guy.

"It's antiseptic of some kind mixed with a mild pain reliever." It wasn't a lie - he had read the label. "Don't worry, it was in the medical wing so it'll be find."

Draco chuckled slightly, "If you told me you brewed it yourself, you know I'd have to kill you, right?"

Harry grabbed the pale shoulders and twisted the guy back round. "I'm thankful I decided against. Now, turn around and shut up."


	4. Snape

Professor Snape hadn't slept well over the past few nights, in fact, it would be fairly safe to say that he hadn't slept at all. The event that was causing so much anguish kept replaying over and over in his mind.

---

_"Severus," The older Malfoy said firmly, "Are you listening to me?"_

_"Yes, I'm listening."_

_"Good ,because here's what I need you to do..."_

---

It had been completely against his will, but really, what choice did he have? If the orders were ignored, one word to the dark lord could result in death - _his _death.

---

_"Lucius!" Snape had yelled, standing up to face the blonde-haired man. "You do not know what you are asking of me. I could lose my job! It's a dangerous spell. I could do more damage than intended, I could -"_

_"Stop babbling, Severus." Lucius shook his head and turned away. "You have no choice in the matter. I am not asking you to do this, I am telling you to."_

_With that, he disappeared - apparating with no warning. _

---

Thankfully no more damage was done than intended, but it still tore the Head of Slytherin up thinking about how he raised a wand to one of his own pupils. The thing that hurt him the most was how Draco still had no idea of why the situation had occured. He had lied; said that he had caught the boy performing dark magic on another pupil, though he clearly hadn't. Draco had been ordered not to tell anybody, especially not Dumbledore.

---

_"You tell anyone about this, Mr. Malfoy, and you can kiss your qualifications goodbye. I'll make sure you fail in every class you take."_

---

Seeing him every day was a nightmare come true. Snape had expected Draco to send him evil glances at every opportunity, but the reality was much worse. Draco didn't look at the Professor at all. He bowed his head whenever they were in close proximity and avoided eye-contact at all costs. He was clearly very, _very _scared.

There hadn't even been a reward for his actions - merely remaining alive. Although it sounds like a huge reward, to Snape, it seemed completely inadequate.

Every time he caught sight of the student, he wanted to rush over and tell him everything. He wanted to reverse the spell and tell the truth about his Father, but there was too much at stake. It wasn't just _his _life, it was the fate of the whole of Hogwarts.


	5. Talking

"I must say, Potter," Draco began as he tried to catch a glimpse of the tight bandages in a mirror behind them, "Your hands did not feel half as good as I imagined them to."

The bandages pulled tight against his sore flesh, but in a strange way the deep slashes felt protected. The painkiller in that potion had obviously began to work too, as the sparks of pain that had been taking over his life had reduced to a dull ache that was far more easy to manage. The first night after his punishment, Draco had lay face down across his bed with his hands clenching the thick blankets and silently prayed that Snape would come bursting through the door and reverse what he had done - that or he would allow him to seek medical assistance. That night he would have given anything for what Harry had just done for him. Of course, he was not going to display his gratitude by bursting in to tears.

Harry rolled his eyes and stuffed the remaining medical supplies back in to his bag. "The better half of me refuses to rise to that statement, Malfoy."

Draco turned around to face Harry again and raised an eyebrow. "I don't care about the better half. I'm all bad, Potter."

"_My_ bad side is telling me to hit you!" Harry exclaimed, going slightly off his normal tone of voice.

"But your good side is telling you not to. You're a walking contradiction." Draco chuckled to himself, looking through the steam of the bathroom over to the huge bath in the middle of the room. "That looks good, doesn't it?"

Harry nodded. "I was actually thinking about taking a quick bath, just so when I return to my room it looks as though I have been gone for a suitable reason."

"Good plan." The blonde boy agreed, "I only wish I could join you. I haven't been able to have a proper bath for a few days. I feel disgusting despite the cleanliness charms."

Harry stepped into the steam and before Draco could even catch a glimpse of flesh, he was sinking down through the hot water filled with bubbles.

"You smell fine, don't worry." Harry spoke as he felt all of the tension in his body melt away in a sweeping gush. "It sucks to be you though."

"I know." Draco growled, pulling his knees up to his chest and letting his forehead rest against them. It stretched the hell out of his back, but the pain was fun for a change; just to test how much it would take before it came back with a striking vengeance.

"It feels so good to be able to talk to somebody about it. I've withstood Crabbe and Goyle slapping me on the back too many times to count."

Harry winced loudly in sympathy. "Is it really an impossible suggestion to tell them?"

"Crabbe and Goyle?" Draco scoffed, "Yes, it really is impossible. They literally couldn't keep a secret if their life depended on it."

"I'm sure that's an exaggeration."

"No." Draco replied bluntly. "It's not an exaggeration. You don't know them."

Harry didn't say it out loud, but he was certainly thinking that he didn't want to know them. He would stick to his Hermione and Ron any day. In fact, sitting in the room with Draco Malfoy, he actually felt incredibly guilty. He felt like a traitor, communicating with the enemy. In reality, harry absolutely hated the inter-house rivalry.

"No, I don't know them." Harry agreed after a moment. "Hey, Malfoy?"

Draco lifted his head from his knees and nodded softly, "Yeah?"

"You said you want to talk to me more often. Why?"

Draco shrugged, although it was pretty obvious that the other guy wouldn't be able to see the subtle movement.

"That is actually a very difficult question to answer, Mr Potter. I don't have a reason. I don't have a rational explanation. I will provide you with this, however; does it matter?"

It provided Harry with a thought to ponder over whilst he dunked his head under the water and held his breath whilst his hair was drenched. When he came back up, he only managed to conclude that it didn't matter at all.

"Nope." Harry smiled in response, "I don't think it does matter. As long as you don't have an ulterior motive." He was still smiling at the end of the sentence – he didn't give two owls if Draco Malfoy had an ulterior motive at that present moment. Draco probably just panicked when he saw Harry had spotted his injuries and decided to play the sympathy card and get something out of it at the same time. Even with that thought, Harry wasn't bothered. It was nice to feel needed for a change.

"If anything, Potter, you have the upper hand in this situation." Draco nodded. "Just think about it. It's not as though I can see what lotions and potions you're spraying over me."

Harry chuckled and pulled a towel over from the radiator closely situated to the bath. "That's true, but maybe you shouldn't have given me ideas."

"Oh, bollocks." Draco was grinning himself. "I think I'll just struggle with the bandages myself tomorrow."

"I don't think you will." Harry laughed, "You may find I've set a timer on that potion. The problems will really start in, say, two hours time."

"You're lucky I can see right through you, Potter." Draco lowered his legs back down onto the tiled bathroom floor, still smiling. "Otherwise I'd have my wand at your neck."

"I'm trembling, Malfoy." Harry scoffed, rubbing his hair with the towel. "Mmm.. that's so much better. Nice and clean."

"Screw you." Draco pulled what Harry could only describe as a pout. "No need to make fun of me just because I'm not my usual pristine self. It's very difficult to survive without two baths a day, I'll have you know."

"_Two_ baths a day?" Harry didn't exactly want to mention that he had one every three days, if that.

"Of course. How else do you think I keep myself looking so good?" Draco chuckled, "Have you never noticed how shiny my – OW!" Draco yelped as something wet smacked him right in the face.

"What were you saying, Malfoy?" Harry was smirking yet managing to look surprisingly innocent at the same time.

Draco looked down to the floor and saw a wet towel. "You're evil, Potter." He whined, kicking the towel back over to the other guy.

"I'm just messing with you, Malfoy." Harry pulled himself up out of the bath and wrapped himself in a large red towel, letting his sodden boxer shorts fall to the floor. "Meet me here the same time tomorrow and I'll see what I can do about you getting a bath, alright?"

"Yeah, OK." Draco nodded. "I guess we had better be getting back to our rooms. It's fairly late."

"I'm going down to the great hall for some late dinner." Harry called over to Draco as he stood behind one of the cubicles and began to get dressed. "You going to come?"

"I'm not hungry, Potter." Draco shrugged once again, "I'm probably just going to go to sleep."

A moment passed before Harry appeared once again, wearing the same clothes as when he had entered the bathroom an hour or so ago. The only difference being that his hair was still slightly wet.

"Thanks for this, Potter." Draco spoke, motioning to the bandages. "I feel much better."

"It's no problem. Like I said same time tomorrow, yeah?"

Draco nodded and picked up his shirt that was hung on a peg. He pulled it on swiftly, but couldn't help but draw in a sharp intake of breath as the pain made itself known. He didn't say anything, just shook his head and pursed his lips.

"You're lucky you've made the right decisions in life so far, Potter. You wouldn't want to end up a screw-up like me."

"What are you talking about?" Harry questioned, stepping closer to Malfoy and passing him his cloak. "I could have helped you with your shirt you know."

"I'm fine, Potter. I'm just tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

Before Harry could decide what to say, Malfoy's back was already to him and he didn't have the courage to chase after him into the hallway, which would surely have other students in.


End file.
